The Drama of High School
by J. S. Writer
Summary: It's off to high school after a summer of grounding for Lizzie McGuire. But although high school at first seems totally cool, teen angst begins to build up for her and her friends. Jealously and stress are just the beginning. How will she get through?
1. Summer Sorrow

**A/N: **It may be a while before I post a "Harry Potter" story, but I decided to work on this story in my spare time this year. So updates might be slow, but I'll do my best.

**Summer Sorrow**

"Gordo!" Lizzie whispered loudly. "Stop, that tickles!"

"I'm sorry, what?" Gordo asked indifferently. "I'm trying to watch the movie."

Lizzie looked around uncertainly at the other people in the dark movie theatre, then turned to her boyfriend. "Every time you lean toward me your hair tickles my cheek."

Gordo smiled at her, causing chills to run up Lizzie's spine. "Sorry. Here, want some popcorn?"

Lizzie returned the smile and stuck her hand into Gordo's container of popcorn. "Sure."

After a few minutes of shifting their positions in their seats, Lizzie and Gordo finally settled on a way for them to lean on each other without Gordo's curly hair tickling Lizzie. But it was hard for her to concentrate on the movie, knowing that high school was starting up tomorrow and Miranda would be back from Mexico City. Lizzie had called her early in the summer and told her about her trip to Rome and the wonderful things that had happened there, but now it seemed unreal.

She felt Gordo tighten his grip on her hand, and she thought back to all the things that she could have done with him after Rome, if she hadn't been grounded because of the events of their trip there. Her parents had thankfully lifted the grounding today because it was freshmen orientation at the high school and it was the last real day of summer Lizzie could enjoy.

Lizzie found herself lost in thought as she stared blankly at the movie screen. Before she knew it, the ending credits music was playing and the lights went up.

"Ready to go?" Gordo yawned slightly and helped Lizzie out of her chair.

"I guess so," Lizzie replied, grabbing her cup of soda and walking with him out of the theatre.

They stopped at a trashcan to throw away their trash before walking out into the hot summer sun to wait for Lizzie's mom to pick them up.

"I can't wait until I can drive and I have my own car," Lizzie said. "Then we can go places on our own."

"_You_ behind the wheel of a car?" Gordo said. "I don't think so. _I'll _drive us."

"Hey!" Lizzie playfully gave Gordo a shove in the shoulder.

"Look who's here," Gordo said suddenly, motioning behind her.

Lizzie turned around quickly, only to see Kate Saunders walking out of the movie theatre. "Great, I wonder what's she's going to do now that we're back home?"

"I've seen her around this summer, but she didn't really acknowledge me," Gordo said. "She might—"

"Well, well, well, look who's here," Kate said sweetly, having just noticed them.

"Hey, Gordon! Lizzie!" Ethan Craft came up behind her, giving Gordo a slap on the back.

This time, Gordo massaged the spot where he was hit.

"I see you're finally out of your grounding," Kate said, eyeing Lizzie up and down.

"Yeah, just in time for school to start," Lizzie said uncertainly.

"Well…I guess I'll see you there," Kate said.

"Um, sure," Lizzie smiled.

Kate gave her a small smile, grabbed Ethan by the arm, and dragged him across the parking lot, where Lizzie could see Kate's mom waiting in her car.

"Well, that was, um…" Lizzie trailed off.

"Weird?" Gordo asked. "Yeah, even after the whole Rome epidemic. But I'd like to see what she's like in school when she's with Claire and her posse."

"Yeah, we shouldn't expect too much."

They waited in silence for a moment, until Mrs. McGuire pulled up in her car.

"Hey, guys! How was the movie?" she asked them as they climbed into the backseat.

"Pretty good," Lizzie said, although she had barely paid attention to the movie. "How was that barbeque?"

"Oh, it started okay, but then your father decided to tell his hick farmer joke. Turns out his boss is from Mississippi. Lost his accent, apparently."

"Ooh," Lizzie said. "He's not in any trouble, is he?"

"No, luckily he made a good save, for once," Mrs. McGuire smiled as she drove out of the parking lot and onto the road. "So, Gordo, you staying for dinner?"

"I guess," Gordo said. "Lizzie, you said that Miranda was coming home tonight, right?"

"Yeah," Lizzie replied. "Do you think she could make it for at least dessert, Mom?"

"Oh, I think she'll be pretty tired when she gets home," Mrs. McGuire said. "You'll see her plenty at school tomorrow."

"Okay," Lizzie sighed. "It's just that I haven't seen her at all this summer. She's been in Mexico this whole time."

"I know you missed her, Sweetheart, but you'll see her tomorrow."

"Yeah, and hopefully we'll have a lot of classes together," Lizzie said. "Gordo and I only have three."

"Well, it's high school," Mrs. McGuire said. "There are so many choices, and Gordo's doing a lot of advanced classes, isn't he?"

"Yep," Gordo said cheerfully. "Chemistry, history, English literature, geometry—"

"Okay, we get it," Lizzie cut him off.

"Sorry," Gordo said, smiling. "But you and Miranda will probably have drama together, right? Ever since Frankie Muniz showed up in that class, she's been dying to do it in hopes that Brad Pitt will suddenly walk through the door."

Lizzie laughed. "Yeah, we've sure had some interesting times in middle school."

Gordo grinned. "And now we get a whole new adventure in high school."

"Wow," Lizzie said under her breath.

They rode in silence for the next ten minutes until Mrs. McGuire pulled into their driveway. "Now you might want to be careful when you walk inside. Matt has Melina and Lanny over. They were at the pool earlier, and apparently had enough money with them to buy four Popsicles at the snack bar for each of them."

"Oh, trust me," Lizzie said to Gordo. "You do _not _want to be near them after even two Popsicles."

"Don't worry, I've been near them like thatbefore," Gordo said, opening the car door and stepping onto the driveway. "I can handle it."

"Whatever you say Gordo," Lizzie said, slamming her car door closed.

They walked together through the front door, only to find complete silence. Mr. McGuire tiptoed over to them from the kitchen.

"Whatever you do, don't make any sudden noises," he whispered to his wife. "I don't know what happened, but they were bouncing off the walls one minute, and completely zonked out the next."

"Well, let's keep it that way," Lizzie said in a normal voice. "If I know Matt, he won't wake up for anything, just like at Grubby Gulch."

"You know, she's probably right, Sam," Mrs. McGuire said to her husband, eyeing her son collapsed on the couch.

"So you're saying I've been tiptoeing around for nothing?"

"Probably," Lizzie replied as she stifled a giggle. "Come on, Gordo."

She grabbed his hand and they hurried up the steps into her room. Lizzie immediately grabbed her phone. "I'm gonna see if Miranda's left yet."

She hurriedly dialed Miranda's cell phone number, and listened intently. After a moment, she sighed and pushed the off button of her phone. "No answer."

"Lizzie, you'll see her tomorrow," Gordo said reassuringly. "We'll see everyone tomorrow."

"I'm just so nervous!" Lizzie said suddenly. "I want to start high school with both of you, my best friend and my boyfriend."

"And you will!" Gordo said, squeezing her hand. "You just won't see her until tomorrow, that's all."

"Okay," Lizzie smiled, leaning in and kissing Gordo's cheek. "I should just sit back and relax until tomorrow."

"That's right," Gordo said, sitting down on her bed.

"Ah!" they heard Matt scream from downstairs.

"Uh oh, guess we were wrong about Matt not waking up," Lizzie said, staring out her door.

They heard feet pounding up the steps until Matt appeared at the top with Melina and Lanny.

"Don't you _ever_ let us fall asleep like that again!" Melina was scolding Matt. "We have a lot of work to do, and we just lost an hour of our last day!"

"Don't worry, we'll think of something," Matt said, opening the door to his bedroom.

Suddenly, Lanny's eyes opened wide and he smiled broadly.

"You're right, Lanny!" Matt said, his face brightening as well. "We go down to the computer store and find the software that'll take care of it for us!"

"What is _it_, exactly?" Lizzie called from her room.

"None of your business," Matt said, quickly ushering his friends into his room. "You'll just have to wait and see—or, just wait and leave us alone!"

Lizzie rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Like I'd actually be truly interested in what they're doing."

"Got that right," Gordo said. "Glad to see the sugar's worn off, though."

"You're telling me," Lizzie said, sitting beside him.

She leaned back on her bed and stared up at the ceiling, resting her head on her hands. "Gordo?"

"Yeah?" Gordo asked, looking down at her.

"I need to ask you something, you know, about high school."

"Sure, anything."

"Do we _really_ need an elevator pass?"

**A/N: **Well, that's it for now. I hope I can update this real soon, and hopefully you liked this first chapter. Tell me what you think!


	2. Hillridge Senior High

**A/N: **Well, originally I was going with my cheer squad to watch our JV squad at a competition, but it didn't work out. So, I decided, I should spend my newly found time writing another chapter for this story. Thanks for the reviews, enjoy!

**Hillridge Senior High**

"Honey, wake up. You'll be late for school." Lizzie felt her mom gently nudging her back.

Lizzie pulled the covers more tightly over herself. "Five more minutes."

"Lizzie, it's time to get up. I've got breakfast ready downstairs. I'll give you three minutes."

Her eyes still closed, Lizzie heard her mother's footsteps walking out of the room and disappearing down the stairs. Lizzie's first intention was to stay in bed all day. But then, another thought struck her.

_I'm going to high school today._

Lizzie's eyes opened wide. She sat up straight in bed and stared directly ahead at her closet.

"I'm going to high school today."

Her sleepiness slowly faded away as she swung her legs over the side of her bed and stepped onto the cold floor. She had, of course, picked out her outfit a week ago. It had been lying neatly folded on her desk chair since then, and as Lizzie carefully picked it up, her excitement increased.

She slowly pulled on a knee-length black denim skirt, and a light purple top with a V-lined neck, which had an attached white tank top underneath. Next, Lizzie stuck her feet into tan-colored clogs and walked over to her mirror. She carefully combed her blonde hair and added a matching purple headband to the ensemble.

She sighed happily. "Perfect."

After applying some makeup, she made her way downstairs to the kitchen, where her parents and brother were settled around the table, either reading the newspaper and drinking coffee, or stuffing his face with fresh pancakes.

"Here you go, sweetie," Mrs. McGuire said, setting a plate of pancakes in front of her daughter.

"Thanks, Mom," Lizzie replied, her stomach suddenly growling.

But the second she put a piece of pancake into her mouth, Lizzie suddenly felt a feeling of nausea creep through her body. It became harder and harder to eat her food.

"What's wrong, honey?" Mrs. McGuire asked, noticing that Lizzie was now barely touching her breakfast.

"Um, I'm not very hungry," Lizzie said, pushing her plate away from her. She was now eyeing her brother, who was stuffing forkfuls of pancakes into his mouth.

"Oh, it's probably just nerves," Mrs. McGuire told her, pushing the plate back in front of her. "And you've gotta eat. You don't want to get hungry during class."

So Lizzie reluctantly stuck most of the remainder of food in her mouth and washed it all down with a glass of orange juice. As her brother had just served himself a third helping of pancakes, Lizzie stood up and quickly ran back up the stairs to her bathroom, where she quickly washed up. After she was finished, she grabbed her backpack full of new school supplies from her room and walked slowly back down the stairs.

"Ready to go?" Mrs. McGuire called from the kitchen. "The bus should be here any minute."

"Yeah," Lizzie said, walking over to where her mother stood. She gave her a big hug and kissed her mom's cheek. "I guess I'll see you when I see you."

"Have fun!" Mrs. McGuire called as Lizzie walked out the front door. "And just relax. It'll be great!"

Lizzie gave her mom one last smile, and then shut the door behind her. Her nerves seemed to calm when she stepped off of the porch, walked down the lawn, and onto the sidewalk. As she made her way to the bus stop, she felt her excitement soar to new heights at the thought of seeing Miranda again. Miranda had called her after dinner the night before to let her know she was home, and now, Lizzie would finally get to talk to her in person.

Lizzie saw a small group of kids waiting at her new bus stop, among them a tall, black-haired girl wearing a bright red blouse. Lizzie recognized her immediately.

"Miranda!"

The girl turned around, and her face brightened at the sight of her. "Lizzie! Oh my god!"

She ran as fast as she could in flip-flops to Lizzie, and they embraced each other in a tight hug.

"How _are _you?" Miranda asked her when they broke apart.

"I'm great!" Lizzie replied. "You grew!"

"Yeah," Miranda smiled. "Two-and-a-half inches."

"I don't know how much I grew," Lizzie said, "but that's beside the point. I know I asked you before, but how was Mexico City?"

"It was so much fun!" Miranda replied. "We went shopping in so many different areas. And I got this new red blouse for only six bucks! You could say I'm a pretty good negotiator."

"I love it," Lizzie said, admiring Miranda's new clothes.

"Good," Miranda said, "because I got you one in blue."

Lizzie could only smile as she wrapped her best friend in another hug.

"Now, onto more important business," Miranda said as they made their way back to the group of kids. "How's the boyfriend?"

Lizzie actually felt herself blush. "Oh, you know, it's Gordo."

"But I've never seen you and Gordo actually…you know…"

"Hey, Miranda!"

The girls whipped around to see Gordo running toward them. He stopped to catch his breath before continuing, "Sorry, I was running late."

"_You_? Running late?" Miranda asked. "On the first day of high school? I find that hard to believe."

"Gordo's just not used to us being earlier than him," Lizzie said. "You're not late, Gordo. The bus isn't even here yet."

"Okay, I just got lost trying to find my way to this bus stop," Gordo confessed, after exchanging a few words with Miranda about her trip.

"Hey, did you guys get my postcards?" Miranda asked as the school bus pulled up to the stop.

"Every last one of them," Lizzie said cheerfully as they waited in line to board the bus.

"So, are you guys excited?" Miranda asked when they were seated toward the back of the bus.

"Anxious, I would say," Gordo said, smiling at Lizzie.

"Yeah, definitely," Lizzie agreed.

The conversation on the bus went from details of Miranda's long trip, to their schedules, and then to the thought of seeing Ms. Ungermyer every day for the rest of the school year. By the time they reached Hillridge Senior High School, they were still in the midst of an in-depth conversation.

Lizzie's heart nearly skipped a beat when she saw the big school looming over her. "Wow," was all she could say.

Tons of students poured into the school, among them people Lizzie recognized immediately: Larry Tudgeman, Kate, Claire, Ethan, and Parker. But most of the people there Lizzie didn't know. Some older-looking boys had beards. A lot of students were pulling up in their own cars and walking toward the school in large groups of people.

Lizzie held onto Gordo's hand as they continued up the steps and through the front door. Miranda stayed on Lizzie's other side. There were flyers posted all over the school: cheerleading tryouts, football, basketball, debate, glee club, etc. Lizzie had promised to share a locker with Miranda this year, so they found their names posted on a long list in the front hallway.

"Locker number 386," Lizzie read. "Gordo, you're number 416. I guess you'll be near us."

"I'm so excited!" Miranda squeaked, grasping Lizzie's arm. "And the best part is, we have French together right after homeroom!"

"It's too bad you don't have homeroom with me and Gordo," Lizzie said sadly. "But we do have a lot of other classes together. I think we'll survive."

Miranda smiled. "Hey—where _is_ Gordo?"

"Sorry, I'm right here," Gordo called to them from about four feet away. "I forgot how hard it is to move around in these hallways!"

Just as he was about to reach Lizzie, someone stepped right in front of him, nearly causing him to fall over his own feet. Lizzie saw that it was Parker.

"Hey, Gordo," she said sweetly. "How was your summer?"

"Um, fine, Parker," Gordo said, staring over her shoulder at Lizzie, who wore a confused look on her face.

"That's good. I hear you have chemistry third hour. So do I. Wanna sit together?"

"Well, we'll have to see," Gordo said impatiently. "I have to go now."

"Oh, okay, later!" she quickly stepped out of his way and disappeared down the hall.

"What was that all about?" Lizzie asked Gordo when he got to them.

"I don't know," Gordo said, staring at the hall Parker had just walked down.

"She knows we're going out, doesn't she?" Lizzie asked, a hint of anger in her voice.

"I don't know, but I'll let her know in chemistry class."

"Good," Lizzie said under her breath, so Gordo could barely hear her above the noise of the hallway.

"Hey, we had better find our homerooms," Miranda said, changing the subject.

"Yeah, it's about time for the bell—"

"Hey, freshmen!" they heard a familiar voice boom down the hall. "Welcome to Hillridge Senior High! Now get to class!"

"Ms. Ungermyer," Lizzie said.

Almost as quickly as they heard her voice, she appeared right in front of them. "David Gordon! Miss McGuire. Good to see you!"

"You too, Ms. Ungermyer," Lizzie replied.

"Excited for the school year?"

"Oh, definitely!" Gordo said immediately.

Ms. Ungermyer gave him a nod of approval. Then she caught sight of Miranda. "And you are?"

"Miranda Sanchez," Miranda answered politely.

"Miranda Sanchez," Ms. Ungermyer repeated. "That's Spanish isn't it? So you know Spanish?"

"Um, a little," Miranda said hesitantly. "But I'm taking French."

"Oh, that's good, too!" Ms. Ungermyer replied cheerfully. "Well, a_yez une bonne journée_! Nice to meet you, Miss Sanchez."

Miranda smiled as Ms. Ungermyer walked away. "Well, she didn't seem _that _bad."

"You just wait," Gordo said as they made their way down the hall. "Well, I think I see our homeroom, Lizzie."

"I guess I'll see you guys later," Miranda said. "I'm gonna go check out our locker real quick."

She gave Lizzie's arm another squeeze and then walked quickly down the hallway, immediately disappearing in the crowd of people.

"Shall we?" Gordo asked, holding their classroom door open for Lizzie.

"Yes," Lizzie answered quietly, and stepped inside the room.

**A/N: **I'm glad I got this chapter up quickly. I'm going to do as much of this story as possible during the remainder of the summer. Thanks for reading!


	3. The First Classes

**A/N: **Thanks for the reviews! Here's chapter three.

**The First Classes**

Lizzie tried as best she could to pay attention to Mr. Daniels, her homeroom teacher, but she found it hard to concentrate to all the introductions, on account of Parker's moving in on Gordo. She remembered on how Parker had turned Gordo down when he invited her to a school dance on account of his being short, and she figured that Parker had regretted it. Now Parker wanted him back. That had to be it.

Lizzie snapped back to reality when Gordo nudged her elbow. Mr. Daniels, a middle aged, balding man had stopped right in front of her desk.

"Is there a problem, Miss…um…"

"McGuire."

"Ah, yes," Mr. Daniels said, checking his clipboard. "Lizzie McGuire."

"No, sorry," Lizzie said.

"Well, it's the first day. I know you're all still in summer mode, but that's okay. I'll let it slide for the time being, but not for long. Now, back to what I was saying."

But Lizzie felt herself zoning out again; not on Parker, though, but on the rest of the opportunities that high school held open. For a portion of the summer Lizzie had considered trying out for the cheerleading squad again, but then decided that it just wasn't right for her. She had no idea what she could do during the year. She had tried so many things in middle school.

It was then she realized that Mr. Daniels was talking about extra curricular activities. She leaned in and listened more intently to what he was saying.

"There are a number of sports to try out for, for both boys and girls. Basketball, softball, tennis, lacrosse…then there's cheerleading and the dance team, school plays, choir, band, orchestra. We'll be handing out an entire booklet of activities to try out for and join. But there will also be a lot of academic things, too: math club, reading, science fairs, and much more. Just wait and you'll see."

"Now that's what I'm talking about," Gordo whispered to Lizzie, who let out a small laugh and forgot her concerns for that moment.

Surprisingly, the rest of her first ever class of high school went by fairly quickly. The 45-minute period didn't seem like one at all. But then Lizzie reasoned that it was probably because of her zoning out. Either way, class was over and she had French with Miranda next. The downside: Gordo wouldn't be with her.

As the class filed out of the room, Gordo asked Lizzie, "Are you all right? You were even less focused than usual."

Lizzie smiled and kissed his cheek. "I'm fine."

"Okay, I'll see you at lunch!" He gave her a quick hug and then walked quickly down the hall, looking at each room number he passed.

Lizzie remembered pretty clearly where her French class was, on account of orientation the day before. She walked halfway across the school, passing by people she didn't recognize at all, and some people she was acquainted with from middle school.

"Lizzie!"

Lizzie looked ahead and saw Miranda running toward her, grasping her backpack in her hands. "I totally hooked our locker up. We've got shelves, a mirror, pictures…and it's full length! Not one of those half lockers where everyone had to kill each other for the top one."

Lizzie smiled. "Cool. Too bad we'll barely ever use it. We can carry our backpacks now."

"Yeah, I noticed," Miranda said sadly, holding up her backpack. "I'd almost rather put this ten-pound thing in our locker, but I can't go running to it after every class."

"It's okay, you'll get used to it," Lizzie told her. "But anyway, we've got two minutes to find our French class. I know you weren't here for orientation, but I think it's just around this corner. Room 413?"

Miranda looked down at her schedule. "Yeah, it should be right here."

They walked quickly around the corner they had been standing at, and immediately came face to face with room 413.

"Bingo." Lizzie opened the door and followed Miranda inside.

The second they set foot in the classroom, their mouths dropped open. Kate and Claire were sitting in the second row, sitting up superiorly in their seats, talking loudly with each other. The class was fairly filled already, so Lizzie and Miranda's only option was to either sit at the two-person desk next to Kate and Claire, or sit at the one in front of them.

Lizzie and Miranda looked at each other awkwardly, then silently communicated their decision. They took the seats next to them.

Lizzie tried not to lock eye contact with Kate as she sat down, but was forced to when Kate said, "Um, hey, Lizzie."

Lizzie looked up from her books. "Oh, hey, Kate."

Miranda merely smiled. Claire wore a disgruntled expression on her face, until Kate nudged her and she added, "Hey, guys."

There wasn't any more time for talking, for their teacher had come into the room and was quickly shushing the class.

"_Bonjour, classe! Bienvenue au premier Français d'année._ Can anyone tell me what that means?"

The class looked around uneasily at each other until Claire's hand shot up in the air.

"Yes?"

"It means, 'Good morning class! Welcome to first year French'."

"Right you are!" the teacher said.

"I took a couple lessons over the summer," Claire said proudly.

"Very good. Now, as I introduced myself yesterday, I am Mme. Rosewood. Although, I have no French background, I have studied the language for years. We are going to be covering a lot in class this year, so I hope you are all ready to enter the world of France! We will learn about their culture, etiquette, language of course, and a lot of other things as well. I trust you have all heard about the trip we take to Paris in your junior year over spring break."

"Hope I don't look like any pop divas there," Lizzie whispered to Miranda, who giggled in reply.

"Ah, Miss McGuire!" Mme. Rosewood. "I forgot to mention yesterday, I saw you on the news during your trip to Rome."

The class began talking quietly to one another at this statement.

"Oh," Lizzie said. "You did?"

"Yes, and I trust that Mlle. Ungermyer has talked to you about that already?"

"Um, no," Lizzie answered, surprised. "I don't think so."

"Oh!" Mme. Rosewood said. "Then, never mind that! Let's get back to the lesson."

Surprising, French went by fairly quickly as well, now that Lizzie was caught in thought about her potential conversation with the principal. What was that all about? She also figured that Mme. Rosewood was just trying to be friendly when she said that, just acknowledging one of her new students. But still, what did she know that Lizzie didn't? She didn't remember Miss Ungermyer really talking to her about something like that at the end of the Rome trip. She thought she had gotten off easy, just with the grounding.

At the end of class, Lizzie and Miranda walked out of the classroom together, Lizzie needing to have Miranda repeat the homework for her as they made their way to drama class. Meanwhile…

Gordo was making his way to Advanced Chemistry class, where he met up with a couple guys he knew from middle school who had also shared his interest in mathematics and science. When he walked in, he saw Parker sitting alone at one of the desks, an open chair next to her. Unfortunately, he was in a group of five, so the other four boys filled two other desks, leaving him with only Parker to sit next to if he wanted to be near them.

"Hey, Gordo!" she said brightly, motioning for him to sit down. "Sorry I had to go so quickly earlier. You know Mr. Fonder, our science teacher, said that we'll need to have a buddy in this class to call if we're not here one day, you know, to fill us in on what we missed. So I was wondering, do you want to be my buddy?"

"Um, I don't know," Gordo said.

"It would be fun!" Parker told him. "And we could even have a little study group, since we have so many classes together. We could go to other places, too, we wouldn't have to just stay home. We could even do it over dinner. Obviously we know a lot of people in our advanced classes. It _could_ be fun."

"Wait—are you talking about a date?" Gordo asked dumbfounded.

"Well...yeah, I guess," Parker replied softly.

"Parker, you know that Lizzie and I are going out, don't you?"

To Gordo, it looked as though Parker's mouth had nearly dropped open. She even turned bright red. "Oh! I'm sorry, I had no idea. Forget I mentioned it, then."

Gordo couldn't help but feel sorry for Parker, but he knew that he liked Lizzie more than anyone else in this school, and that wouldn't change.

"Sorry, Parker."

"It's fine," she said quietly.

Gordo couldn't say anything more, for Mr. Fonder had just started his lesson. He dazed off a bit, thinking about what Lizzie was doing now…

In drama class, Lizzie and Miranda were sitting on the floor next to Ethan, listening to their teacher, Miss Pierce, explain to them her three most important rules of acting.

"Number one, if you can see the audience backstage, they can see you!"

Lizzie had heard that rule a dozen times in middle school, and now she couldn't help but miss Hillridge Junior High. She had also learned today that the seniors didn't want to have anything to do with the freshmen, and the flyers they had left on their lockers in middle school had just been to psych them out.

Now Lizzie didn't want to zone out in class again, so she forced herself to pay attention to was Miss Pierce was saying.

"So, your first in-class assignment will be to put together a short skit, in which you create a problem and solve it. You have 20 minutes to prepare, and then we will perform them. Afterward, we'll write down ways to improve our own skits, and then perform them again tomorrow. Then, we'll learn some vocabulary for the stage. You will work in groups of three or four. Go!'

Lizzie, Miranda, and Ethan decided to work together, so they began trying to think up a skit.

"How about being nervous for high school?" Miranda suggested. "It even sends a message that there's nothing to be afraid of, as we've realized. Ethan, you can be the teacher, I can be the mom trying to calm her daughter, and Lizzie you can be the scared, defenseless, student."

"Hey!" Lizzie exclaimed.

Miranda smiled gleefully.

"You know me oh too well," Lizzie said playfully, and then they began practicing their skit.

It was especially funny when Ethan tried to imitate a teacher. It was even entertaining. When it came time to perform, their skit actually had turned out pretty well, and Miss Pierce was very content with their performance. Still, she had some suggestions for them to consider.

After class, Lizzie's stomach was growling. "Only one more class until lunch. What is it? Oh, PE."

"At least we get to burn some calories before eating," Miranda said optimistically.

Lizzie smiled. "Leave it to you to brighten the moment."

"Hey, what else am I good for?"

Lizzie laughed. "Come on, I think the locker room's this way."

As they walked further down the hall and turned a corner, they had unknowingly passed the line of offices, one of which was the principal's, where Ms. Ungermyer sat with the window shades down, talking with a few people from the board of directors.

"Yes, I know it was a serious violation of the rules during our trip to Rome," Ms. Ungermyer was saying. "And I believe your final decision is very appropriate, therefore, I am content with it. I'll tell her the second I can. We'll start it as soon as possible. Thank you."

**A/N:** I guess that's a good spot to stop. I'll try to get the next chapter up as quickly as possible. Thanks!


	4. Ms Ungermyer’s Sentence

**A/N: **I'm here again with yet another chapter. I really appreciate your nice reviews. I'm so glad you like the story! Hope you enjoy this next post!

**Ms. Ungermyer's Sentence**

"That was the most disgusting, gruesome, sickening thing I have ever been involved with!" Miranda exclaimed as the girls left the PE locker room, making their way toward lunch.

"It's just girls' gym class," Lizzie said, "and I thought _you _were the optimist."

"After spending a summer in Mexico City I thought I could handle the heat of outdoor gym, but _no_. I didn't have to run a mile, do 50 jumping jacks and push ups, and play flag football just to find a necklace in an outdoor market!"

"Hey, flag football's not that bad," Lizzie reasoned. "Remember when I used to play it after school?"

"Well, you're a more athletic girl. I'm just…me." Miranda said. "And I'm ready for some lunch. I've probably burned more calories than I have in me."

"You know that's not true," Lizzie said, smiling. "Let's drop off the books that we've already used at our lockers so we have a lighter load."

"Good idea," Miranda said. "Then we can find the cafeteria and down 20 cartons of lemonade."

"I'm for that," Lizzie agreed.

When Lizzie saw her and Miranda's locker for the first time, she stopped and admired it for a moment. "I like what you've done with the place! And I had never even seen it before. How did you do this so fast?"

"I put everything together the night before," Miranda replied. "So all I had to do was stick it in."

"How'd you fit it in your backpack?"

"My little secret," Miranda told her. "But you can just assume that I'm amazing."

Lizzie laughed and linked arms with her. "Let's get down to the cafeteria. I'm about to chew off my own hand!"

Miranda smiled as they one-handedly threw their books into their lockers (neatly, on Miranda's behalf), and then started back down the hall to where they thought the lunchroom should be.

"Um, didn't we pass the cafeteria on our way down here?" Lizzie asked, confused, as she looked around.

"I thought so," Miranda said, "unless it was a gym."

"Um, let's try around this corner," Lizzie said, motioning down the hall.

Miranda nodded and they ran quickly and rounded the corner, only to come face to face at a dead end, the custodian's closet.

"Okay, that's not right," Lizzie said.

The girls wheeled around and stared at the empty halls around them.

"Maybe it's further down the hall," Miranda suggested. "And up the stairs."

"Worth a shot," Lizzie agreed, and the girls made a left and continuing running until they had run up the flight of stairs, only to see identical hallways as the floor below, and no sign of chatting students nearby.

"Okay, I think we're lost." Miranda stated.

"Hey, do you guys need some help?" a voice from behind them said.

They turned around, and immediately spotted a tall, dark-haired boy walking up the steps they had just come up.

"Uh, yeah," Lizzie said, while Miranda stared blankly at the cute boy that had just addressed them. "Can you tell us where the cafeteria is?"

"Oh sure, but you're completely on the wrong side of the building," the boy laughed. "Walk down the stairs and make a right and go straight until you get to another turn. Make a left there, keep walking, and you should see it up ahead. But I should warn you, it's a long hallway until you get there."

Miranda let out a girlish laugh, then immediately turned red and looked away from the boy.

"I'm Jeremy by the way," the boy said, smiling at Miranda. "Are you guys freshmen?"

"Yeah," Lizzie answered.

"Thought so," Jeremy said, grinning again. "I'm a sophomore, but I do some extra work in the departments up here."

"That's cool," Lizzie said. "Oh, and I'm Lizzie, and this is Miranda."

Miranda smiled. "H-h-hi."

"Nice to meet you guys," Jeremy said. "But I gotta run. I guess I'll see you around!"

"Okay, bye, and thanks for your help!" Lizzie called to him as he rushed past them and hurried down a hall.

As they began making their way back down the steps, Miranda grasped Lizzie's arm and whispered loudly to her, "He is so,_ so_…cute!"

Lizzie had a feeling that Miranda had wanted to say 'hot' instead, but was probably afraid that Jeremy was still within earshot. "Yeah, he seemed pretty nice."

"Do you think I have a chance with him?" Miranda asked her. "Be honest. Oh gosh, I hope he doesn't have a girlfriend!"

"Miranda, you just met him!" Lizzie said as they reached the bottom of the stairs and turned to walk down the hall. "You'll see him around school plenty of times, and it'll probably be easy to see if he has a girlfriend or not."

"Wow, could you even imagine what Kate and Claire would say if I started dating a sophomore?" Miranda asked dreamily. "They would be so jealous."

"I think you're getting ahead of yourself," Lizzie told her. "I think you should get to _know_ him before he asks you out. He said he works on the second floor. Maybe you could get a job there too."

"No, you probably have to be 16 to work up there."

"That's for a _regular _job, Miranda. This is school. And you're already 15 anyway! I'm sure Jeremy would love to get to know you."

"You think?" Miranda asked.

Lizzie nodded, and wrapped her arm around Miranda shoulders. They continued down the hallway talking about other things unrelated to Jeremy, until they finally found the cafeteria. Since they had gotten there so late, the lunch lines were pretty much empty, so they got their food fairly quickly and found Gordo saving them a seat at a table.

"You're lucky I was able to keep these open for you," Gordo told them as they sat down. "You have to get here really early if you want to get a table. Good thing my English literature class is right down the hall. Where were you guys anyway?"

"We got lost," Lizzie told him after taking a bite out of her pizza. "But luckily we ran into someone that helped us."

"Jeremy," Miranda said, dazed for a moment. "A sophomore."

"Uh oh, I don't like where this is going," Gordo said testily. "Am I going to have to hear about more cute boys at lunch all over again?"

Lizzie tuned out Gordo's minor rant as she scanned the lunch crowd for some familiar faces. After looking around the tables and stairs full of people eating on the floor, her eyes settled on Parker, who was eating at another table nearby, with a group of girls and some boys. Lizzie looked more closely. Parker was staring intently at someone. Lizzie followed her line of vision until it stopped at Gordo.

Lizzie felt her heart sink. She had a feeling that this was going to be a problem.

"Hey, Gordo," she said, interrupting Gordo still going on about their boy craziness. "Did you talk to Parker about us?"

"Oh yeah!" Gordo said. "She's cool with it. You've got nothing to worry about."

Lizzie looked unsurely at Parker, who still had her eyes on Gordo, and then turned back to him and said, "Okay."

Lunch went by pretty quickly, on account of them only having about ten minutes to eat after getting there. The rest of school went by pretty fast as well, and soon Lizzie found herself riding the bus home with Gordo and Miranda, recapping their exciting first day of high school.

"To be truthful, I can't wait to go back tomorrow," Lizzie said as the bus pulled up to their stop. "No parents, tons of cute guys—of course, no one as cute as Gordo!" she added reassuringly when Gordo stared at her, amused. "And a lot of nice people. I think I was worried for nothing."

"Yeah," Gordo agreed, putting her arm around her shoulders. "I think we all were."

Lizzie sighed. "But now I have to bring back every waking moment from the time I left the house to the time I got home for my parents."

"Oh, I hate that part," Miranda said as they stepped off the bus. "Well, let's get to it!"

They said their last goodbyes and then went their separate ways to their own homes. Lizzie's mom was waiting eagerly on the front lawn when Lizzie got to the house.

"So?" Mrs. McGuire asked, running down the grass to hug her daughter. "How'd it go?"

Lizzie smiled. "Great!"

"So, tell me all about it? How was it? Who'd you see? What did you do? How are your teachers?"

"Fine, Mom, fine!" Lizzie said, but unfortunately during dinner that night, she didn't escape with a 'Just fine' response. She had to recount the entire day for her family.

Matt unfortunately, had to endure the wrath of his parents from the prank he had been planning all summer.

"You printed out imitations of new schedules for everyone?" Mrs. McGuire screamed. "So it took a whole class period to sort it out? How could you? On the first day of school, I get a phone call an hour into the day!"

Matt's first violation of the rules of the world that school year saved Lizzie from talking more about her day. She went on with dinner quietly as Mr. and Mrs. McGuire scolded and punished her younger brother.

Lizzie spent the rest of the evening finishing up her homework and talking to Gordo and Miranda on the phone. By the time she finally lie down to sleep, she was exhausted. Before she knew it, it was morning.

>>>>

"So, did you understand the French homework last night?" Lizzie asked Miranda as they got off the bus and walked up the steps to the school with Gordo the next day.

"Yeah, it was totally simple!" Miranda replied. "Find an object in your home that is of French significance and describe it in one paragraph!"

"Oh, I thought you said yesterday to 'fry a French fry' and write why it's important," Lizzie said. "I thought it was more of a cultural food thing."

"French fries aren't even French!" Miranda laughed.

"I guess I'll have some explaining to do," Lizzie sighed. "Way to start the school year."

"It'll be okay," Miranda assured her. "I think the assignment's due Monday, or that could just be when Mme. Rosewood said we would be hearing about etiquette and language from her French friend or something."

"Oh, I'm _doomed_," Lizzie said, throwing her head back. "Why couldn't we have study hall in the morning, after homeroom?"

"It's the way life goes," Miranda said as they made their way down the halls.

"Miss McGuire!" a voice boomed from out of nowhere. "Just the person I wanted to see!"

Lizzie turned around quickly, nearly dropping her books as Ms. Ungermyer walked heavily toward her. "May I speak with you alone, Lizzie? Don't worry, I'll give you a late pass to homeroom."

"Um, okay," Lizzie said, nervously waving goodbye to Gordo and Miranda, and then following Ms. Ungermyer down the hall to her office.

"Have a seat, Miss McGuire," Ms. Ungermyer said, motioning to one of the seats in front of her desk. When Lizzie had sat down, she continued. "I had a meeting with the board of directors yesterday, and you have probably already realized that you have yet to make up for your gallivanting all over Rome this past summer."

All Lizzie could do was nod.

"So," Ms. Ungermyer said, folding her hands across her desk and staring Lizzie straight in the eye. "They have come up with an appropriate punishment for you to carry out for the first semester of the school year."

"Why didn't they have me do something over the summer?" Lizzie found herself asking.

"It's summer, Miss McGuire!" Ms. Ungermyer exclaimed. "You students aren't the only ones who take a vacation after school ends. Besides, we believe it's more fitting for you to do it during the school year. Because of this, we were able to come up with a very good punishment."

"So, what do you want me to do?"

"You, Miss McGuire, until the end of first semester, will serve as our main hall monitor after school, every weekday. You may have to give up some Saturdays when after-school clubs meet at the school, to make sure everything is in tip-top shape."

"But that's not fair!" Lizzie objected. "What if I have plans after school?"

"Well, you're just gonna have to make it work!" Ms. Ungermyer shot at her. "I know you were deceived by this Paolo fellow, but you were still wrong to leave the group in the first place. Therefore, you will learn to respect the rules of our school sponsored activities by manning the hallways after school to make sure that no one disregards them."

Lizzie was staring blankly at Ms. Ungermyer, but had taken in everything she was saying.

"You will stay for one full hour directly after school," Ms. Ungermyer instructed. "If you have any conflicts, come see me and we'll schedule a makeup assignment. Oh, and speaking of assignments, I still want those reports on the rise and decline of the Roman Empire."

Lizzie's mouth opened but no words came out.

"Are we clear, Miss McGuire?"

Lizzie felt tears welling up in her eyes.

"I said, are we clear, Miss McGuire?" Ms. Ungermyer raised her voice slightly.

"Yes."

"Thank you," Ms. Ungermyer said, taking a pass out of her desk drawer and filling it out. She handed it to Lizzie. "That will be all. Have a nice day."

Lizzie managed a weak smile, and then turned slowly and walked out of the office.

**A/N: **Well, I guess we'll have to see the outcome of this…


	5. Moments of Doubt

**A/N: **Sorry I didn't update as fast. This week is going to be a bit busier since I'm starting high school on Thursday. I'll do my best to post more ASAP. But for now, enjoy!

**Moments of Doubt**

"_Hall _monitor?" Miranda had repeated when Lizzie told her Ms. Ungermyer's sentencing. "I can't believe it! The whole first semester?"

Now Lizzie was sitting with Miranda and Gordo on the stairs of the cafeteria (they hadn't been fortunate enough to claim a table).

"You know what this means, don't you?" Gordo asked.

"What?" Lizzie said hesitantly.

"We can't hang out after school. We can't take the bus together, you can't do any extra curriculars that are right after school—"

"I get it, Gordo," Lizzie said quietly.

"But you can still try out for the school musical," Miranda told her. "They don't have rehearsals until 5:00. The show choir needs the theatre until then. That's where I'll be!"

"Good luck with those auditions," Lizzie said with a small smile. "I know you'll do great."

"Aw, cheer up, Lizzie!" Miranda said. "We're going to make this hall monitor thing go by in a flash! Think about it this way: our homework load seems manageable so far, and you have study hall every single day for 45 minutes. You'll be fine in that area. Then you only have hall monitor duty until 4:00. You'll have an hour to do whatever, and then you can work on the school play."

"But I don't even know if I'll make the musical," Lizzie said.

"Everybody knows that you can sing now," Gordo cut in. "You'll do great, and you'll definitely land a role."

Lizzie smiled, a real one this time. "Thanks, guys."

"Any time." Miranda put her arm around Lizzie.

"So, hall monitor duty starts Monday," Lizzie said, opening her bag of potato chips. "Which means I've still got today after school and the entire weekend to hang out with you guys. Got any ideas?"

"We can go see that new action movie that came out last week," Miranda suggested.

"Actually I already saw it," Lizzie said. "My mom made me take Matt and his weirdo friends to see it because they couldn't. It wasn't all that good anyway, but then again, I was distracted by his rude noises."

Miranda laughed. "That's okay. And you've already been to the movies once this week. How about the mall?"

"That sounds good," Lizzie said.

"Yeah," Gordo agreed, "but you should also get your Roman reports done this weekend, too, so you can get them out of the way."

"Same old Gordo," Lizzie smiled.

"And don't worry, I'll help you with it," Gordo told her. "I know some great Roman websites. Remember that packet I put together for Ms. Ungermyer before we left on the plane?"

"Yeah, that was your infamous introduction to her. But thanks, Gordo," Lizzie said, squeezing his hand.

Before, it was on a very rare occasion when Gordo gave Lizzie extra help on her homework. She guessed now it was just one of those advantages of being his girlfriend. Of course, that's not why she was going out with him! But Lizzie smiled at the thought.

"Well, it's about time to leave," Gordo said, gathering up his lunch and standing up. "I've got to get to history class and get a seat with one of the guys before Parker gets there. Yesterday it was like she left 15 minutes early from lunch to get in there."

At the sound of Parker's name Lizzie felt her sudden build of self-esteem decrease. "She's not, you know…"

"Flirting with you." Miranda finished Lizzie's sentence for her.

"In a sense she is," Gordo said, "but don't worry, I'm making sure that nothing happens. But I still think that she's fine with us going out."

"What, do we need her permission?" Lizzie asked before she could stop herself.

Gordo looked at her, a puzzled expression on her face. "I didn't mean that."

"I know," Lizzie said, staring down at her feet. "Sorry."

"Lizzie, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Lizzie said. "Let's go Miranda. I want to finish our French homework in study hall."

She grabbed Miranda by the arm and proceeded to dragging her to the door of the cafeteria, leaving behind a confused, yet concerned, Gordo.

>>>>

"Hall monitor for the entire semester?" Mrs. McGuire asked when Lizzie came home that day. "Well, I don't know what to say. It's an appropriate punishment, I guess, but to deprive you of your first hour after school!"

Lizzie sat at the kitchen table, eating a quick snack of cereal and milk, while her mother debated openly over whether or not Ms. Ungermyer had made a mistake.

"Mom, it's fine," Lizzie said. "I deserved it."

"Honey, you spent the rest of the summer before your freshmen year in the house, doing practically nothing, and now you're losing time after school too?" Mrs. McGuire said. "I don't know what to think. You know what? I'm going to call Ms. Ungermyer and see if we can come up with an alternative punishment."

"Mom, no!" Lizzie shouted as her mother reached for the phone. "That'll only make things worse. You _know _Ms. Ungermyer."

Mrs. McGuire stared at the phone, then at her daughter, at the phone, then at her daughter, and then finally put it down. "You're probably right. I'm sorry, Lizzie."

"It's fine, Mom," Lizzie said, standing up to put her bowl in the sink. "I'm gonna get started on the rest of my homework."

"Okay, sweetie," Mrs. McGuire said, giving her daughter a quick rub on the shoulder before she walked quickly to the stairs.

Lizzie ran up the steps two at a time. She had to get into the peace and quiet of her bedroom. For some reason, she just wanted to be alone.

Contrary to doing homework, she just laid herself out on her bed and stared up at her ceiling fan.

"I thought high school was going to be the greatest," she said to herself. "Now Parker's trying to get with Gordo and I have to do this stupid hall monitor job. What now?"

Suddenly, her phone rang, making Lizzie jump nearly a foot in the air. She regained her composure before reaching over and picking her phone up off her nightstand.

"Hello?"

"Lizzie, it's me," came Miranda's voice. "I saw him! I was at that new bookstore with my mom after school, and he was working there!"

"Wait," Lizzie asked, confused. "Who?"

"Jeremy!" Miranda shouted into the phone, excited. "He works at the cash register!"

"Cool," Lizzie said, not feeling excitement at all.

Miranda didn't seem to notice her current mood. "I was ready to grab anything off the shelf and go buy it from him, but we were only there for a minute. My mom just wanted to check to see if they had gotten the Peruvian cookbook she was looking for."

"Oh well," Lizzie said. "I'm sure you'll see him again."

"You know, he probably doesn't even remember me," Miranda went on. "I mean he's 16. He _drives_. Why would he want to go out with me?"

"Miranda, can we not talk about boys for the moment?" Lizzie asked.

"Why? What's wrong? Did something happen with Gordo?" Miranda asked, suddenly worried.

"No, no," Lizzie said. "I just don't feel like discussing guys right now."

"Oh, okay," Miranda said. "Sorry. So…what are you up to?"

"Nothing, really," Lizzie replied. "I _was _going to get started on my homework, but it's kind of hard to concentrate on it."

"Lizzie, I have to ask you something." Miranda's voice was suddenly serious.

"Sure, anything," Lizzie said.

"Do you want me to talk to Parker?"

Lizzie was silent for a moment before answering, "Huh?"

"I said, do you want me to talk to Parker for you?"

"Why would you do that?" Lizzie asked, trying to hide her true feelings.

"I know you're feeling queasy about Parker and Gordo," Miranda said. "Just say the word, and I'll tell her to buzz off."

"No, Miranda, I don't want to be rude to her," Lizzie insisted. "I just want to be happy with Gordo and not have to worry about her butting in."

"Lizzie, you don't have to worry about her," Miranda reassured her. "Gordo's crazy about you! There's nothing Parker could do to change that."

Lizzie smiled when Miranda said that. "Really?"

"Yeah," Miranda said, and Lizzie could tell she was grinning as well. "He told me plenty of times while I was in Mexico. He's practically in love with you. Don't worry about it."

"Thanks," Lizzie said.

It was then she realized it: Miranda must have known that Gordo liked her since way before he ever admitted it. And she knew that Miranda always knew what she was talking about—most of the time. But she definitely trusted her on this.

"Thanks, Miranda," Lizzie said again.

"No problem," Miranda said. "So, once you finish your work, call me and we'll make a plan with Gordo. I don't have that much stuff to do besides math, so I should be finished pretty soon."

"Yeah, same here," Lizzie said. "Oh, and remember to tell Gordo about what happened in drama class!"

When they had performed their skit again in drama class, Ethan was hilarious. He had been acting dumbfounded the entire time, and then all of a sudden quoted William Shakespeare in a situation totally unrelated to the scene. The class had burst out laughing.

"Ethan's like our dads," Miranda said. "Some times you think they're clueless, and then they surprise you."

"Oh, definitely," Lizzie said. "It's that way with Gordo, too."

Miranda laughed. "I guess so."

"Well, I'll talk to you soon," Lizzie said, feeling much better about the whole Parker situation.

"Okay. Bye!"

Lizzie hung up the phone, and then reached into her backpack for her math notebook. As she began to work on problems out of her textbook, the thought of hall monitor duty lurked back into her mind. She sighed. As better as she felt now, she could tell: it was going to be a _long _semester.

**A/N: **That's it for now. I'll try to get the next chapter out within the next couple of days. Tomorrow will be busy, but I'll do my best. Thanks!


	6. First Day on the Job

**A/N:** Okay, I guess unless you had this story on your story alert list, it would have completely left your mind that it exists. And I don't blame you. For the past few months I have gotten settled into the high school life, and my only main reason for not updating is because of the time I've had to put into homework, dance, cheerleading, and piano. So I'm sorry you haven't seen an update from me for a while, and I promise I'll try to get back into a routine.

**First Day on the Job**

Matt smiled happily to himself as he scanned through his computer files. Over the years (after learning how to properly program a computer), he had compiled many items to his liking that he could someday use to blackmail Lizzie. Of course, he would sort them from most important to least, so that when he needed Lizzie to come through for him, he would have just the appropriate amount of dirt dug up on her to make her cooperate.

Matt tried to contain his laughter as he opened the "Embarrassing Photos" file. He had long recovered from the loss of his tape of Lizzie singing into her comb before the trip to Rome. But now he needed something to top that. Something big. And now, that opportunity had come.

"Hall monitor." He said to himself. "My sister. Who would have thought? Of course, I made the job the coolest thing around when _I_ was monitor, but Lizzie? Don't think so."

Of course Matt had loved when he was hall monitor, but Lizzie? What could be sweeter?

"I just get some footage of her tripping from running after something, or bumping her head on an open locker door, and I've got her for life!" Matt burst out, taking the next few seconds to make sure no one had heard.

Just then, the cell phone on his desk began to vibrate, making him nearly leap out of his seat. He regained his composure before answering. "Matt speaking."

"All right, you'd better listen to everything I have to say before you speak!" Melina began furiously. "In order to carry through this plan we need undercover supplies, fake student ID's, whatever it takes not to get caught!"

"I'm listening," Matt replied casually.

"Did I _say _I was finished talking?" Melina interrupted.

"Go on," Matt said.

>>>>

Lizzie tried to stifle a yawn as Mme. Rosewood went over the rules of verb changes in French class the next morning. She had been at the mall most of the day yesterday and stayed up past midnight looking through her yearbook from middle school. As her mind had wandered over the many adventures they had undergone during those years, she also realized that high school held just as many promises. And she was also pleased to know that the seniors that had posted the warning flyers all over their lockers last year truly didn't want to have anything to do with them.

"Lizzie, _Lizzie_?" came Mme. Rosewood's voice, snapping Lizzie out of her sleepiness.

"Huh?" she asked, looking around to find everyone in the class staring at her.

"Please answer this question," Mme. Rosewood told her, pointing to a question written in French on the board.

_Quelle est date d'aujourd'hui?_

As Lizzie stared blankly at the board, trying to figure it out in her head, Mme. Rosewood sighed. "Anyone else?"

Claire's hand immediately shot up in the air.

"_Aujourd'hui est septembre 7_," she said proudly when Mme. Rosewood called on her.

Lizzie felt her face grow red with embarrassment as Miranda leaned in and whispered, "Why is she even in this class? It's like she's had a private French tutor her whole life!"

Lizzie just shrugged in response. She didn't feel that anything could distract her from the thought that she was starting hall monitor duty today.

The rest of the day went by slowly. When the last bell of the day finally rang and everyone else rushed out of their seats into the hallway, Lizzie groaned and gathered up her books, then slowly trudged out of her class and down to Ms. Ungermyer's office. Gordo met up with her halfway there.

"Hey," he smiled at her, kissing her on the cheek. "Do you think you could spare me an hour after hall monitor duty so we can get some smoothies?"

Lizzie smiled at him as he added, "And…do some homework."

"Yeah, I'd definitely go for that," Lizzie said. "Well, anyway, I'd better not be late to Ms. Ungermyer or else she might extend my punishment to the whole school year."

"Want me to come with you for moral support?" Gordo offered.

"No, I don't think she'd like that," Lizzie said. "I mean, I wouldn't want you to get in any trouble. I mean, you barely got on good terms with her the first time."

"Well, if you're sure," Gordo said, squeezing her hand. "I'll meet you at the Digital Bean at 4:15."

"Okay, see you then," Lizzie smiled.

When she stood at the doorway of Ms. Ungermyer's office, she took a deep breath before knocking.

"Come in," came Ms. Ungermyer's rough voice.

Lizzie opened the door timidly and stepped inside. Ms. Ungermyer sat at her desk, scribbling on a sheet of paper.

"Sit down, McGuire."

Lizzie sat down without hesitation.

"What I'm filling out here for you is your first assignment," Ms. Ungermyer told her, not looking up from her paper. "I need you to give this to Mrs. Edmonds, who works in the copy room, and pick up some flyers for the musical auditions. There should be about 50 of them. I'd like you to post them around the school."

Lizzie's voice got caught in her throat, so she simply nodded.

"You got a problem with that, McGuire?" Ms. Ungermyer asked, looking up from her paper suddenly.

"N-no," Lizzie answered quietly. "That's fine."

"Good," Ms. Ungermyer said, smiling for the first time since Lizzie had come in. "And you're taking a load off the drama department, I'll tell you that. Normally the drama club puts up the flyers."

She put down her pen and held the paper up to Lizzie. As Lizzie was about to take it, Ms. Ungermyer pulled it back suddenly. "Wait."

She leaned over and fumbled under her desk. She pulled out an orange and yellow sash and held it out to Lizzie. "This will be your uniform and symbol of authority, so a teacher doesn't stop you in the hall and delay you on your assignment."

To Lizzie, she couldn't even bear the thought of someone at school seeing her in that sash, but all she could do was nod again and take the sash. As she fastened the sash around her shoulder and waist, Ms. Ungermyer stood up and walked around the side of her desk to face Lizzie. "You are to report back to me at 4:00 when the activity bell rings and give me any warning slips that you fill out."

"Warning slips?" Lizzie questioned.

"Oh yes, I forgot to mention. Each time you see a student out of line in the hallways, you give them a warning slips with their name on it, one for them and one for me, and I'll determine the punishment according to what they did."

With that she handed Lizzie the slip of paper and the pad of warning slips, and sent her on her way. As soon as Lizzie stepped out of Ms. Ungermyer's office she suddenly realized that she had no idea where the copy room was. She decided to scan the hallway of offices and see if she could find it that way. When she had no luck, she desperately began looking around for someone to ask.

As she wandered the hallways, she came across the stairway leading to the department where she and Miranda had met Jeremy. She decided to try up there, and immediately came face to face to him.

"Lost again?" he asked, smiling.

"Um, yeah," Lizzie said, slightly embarrassed. "Can you tell me where the copy room is?"

"Right down that hall," Jeremy said, pointing to his left.

"Thanks," Lizzie told him, starting to walk that way.

"Hey, shouldn't you know that by now?" Jeremy called to her.

"Why?"

"You're the hall monitor."

Lizzie felt her face grow red. Jeremy must have noticed, because he said, "I'm only joking."

"Right," Lizzie said, and quickly walked away from him and down the hall.

She felt relieved when she came across the copy room and walked inside.

There stood a woman, seemingly middle-aged, who stood over a machine that was spitting out scantron tests.

"Can I help you?" she asked when she saw Lizzie standing in the doorway.

"Um, yeah," Lizzie said, stepped forward to hand her Ms. Ungermyer's note. "I'm here to pick up some drama flyers."

"Oh yes," she said, quickly scanning the paper. "I think I put them over here. I'm Mrs. Edmonds by the way. I take you're a freshmen? I've seen most of the kids in this school, but of course I have to start over with the 9th graders."

"Yeah," Lizzie replied, feeling herself relax in the presence of this woman.

Mrs. Edmonds smiled and nodded, then went over to a desk where a pile of folders sat stacked up almost a foot high.

"Um, let's see here," she said as she flipped through each folder. "Ah! Here we go. The drama musical."

She handed Lizzie a thick stack a purple flyers with the title, "AUDITIONS" printed at the top, as well as a tape dispenser.

"Thanks," Lizzie smiled, taking the stack from Mrs. Edmonds.

"And thank _you_ for begin such a big help," Mrs. Edmonds smiled.

As Lizzie left the copy room, she definitely knew now that there was at least one nice adult in this school.

>>>>

Lizzie figured she didn't really need to put up flyers in this department, since students usually didn't go here, so she read the flyer as she walked back down the steps.

"Guys and Dolls," she read. "Now that's a good show."

She sighed. Being a freshman she probably wouldn't land a main role, but she could very well make the chorus.

Lizzie started from that hallway all the way down to the cafeteria, where she posted about a dozen flyers all over the walls and poles. The pile of flyers in her hand never seemed to end.

The hallways were surprisingly quiet. Occasionally a group of jocks would come jogging through the hallways, but other than that, it was peaceful. Lizzie soon found herself put up flyers everywhere she could see there wasn't one, even if they were within 10 feet of each other. She soon caught this laziness when the thought of Ms. Ungermyer yelling at her crept up on her, and began spreading them out more.

The hour never seemed to end, but soon Lizzie heard the bell ring when she only had about a dozen flyers left in her hand. She quickly ran down the hall as kids began filing out of their activity classrooms and threw the remaining flyers on every wall she could spot.

She dashed back to Ms. Ungermyer's office and collected herself before knocking on her door once more. This time Ms. Ungermyer was on the phone.

"Oh yes, I can't wait to see you too," she was saying. "You're flight comes in tonight, correct?"

Lizzie waited patiently by the door while Ms. Ungermyer finished up her phone call.

"So? How'd it go your first day on the job?" Ms. Ungermyer asked when she hung up.

"Fine," Lizzie answered.

"Did you put all the flyers up?"

Lizzie nodded.

"Good, good," Ms. Ungermyer smiled. "I guess you're free to go. By the way, how's that essay coming along?"

It took a moment for Lizzie to figure out what Ms. Ungermyer was talking about, but soon remembered. "Oh, yeah, it's fine."

"Then I guess you had better get started on it," Ms. Ungermyer replied, reading her like a book. "I'll take your sash. Same time, tomorrow, kid."

Lizzie handed in her sash and proceeded to walk quickly out of the office.

"Yeah," she sighed, closing the door behind her. "Same time tomorrow."

**A/N: **Again, I'm going to try really hard to update again soon. I'm sorry it's been forever since I last posted, but hopefully this chapter partially made up for the wait.


	7. The Audition

**A/N: **Okay, I'm just happy to say that I'm updating in the same month as my last post. I'm thankfully on winter vacation, even though I have to study for finals, memorize two piano pieces, and read a 240-page book for English. But I'm making time for updates; it's one of my outlets from the crazy out-of-school life.

**The Audition**

When Lizzie met up with Gordo at the Digital Bean, she saw a large strawberry-banana smoothie waiting for her.

"Oh, just what I need," Lizzie said, collapsing in the chair next to Gordo and reaching for the smoothie.

"Hey, who said that was for you?" Gordo ask, a smiling playing at his lips.

"Please, I don't need this right now," Lizzie said. "If I have to suffer through a whole semester of putting up stupid flyers and avoiding anyone who knows me, then a smoothie would be the perfect resolution."

"That bad, huh?"

"Well, let's just say it's not going to be one of my favorite memories of my freshmen year of high school."

Gordo smiled. "How about this?"

He slowly leaned over as Lizzie pulled away from her smoothie and gave her a peck on the lips.

Lizzie smiled. "Thanks, I needed that."

"I've been wanting to do that for a long time," Gordo said. "That PDA thing Ms. Ungermyer likes to enforce really creeps me out."

"Public display of affection," Lizzie grinned. "Same old Gordo."

"But you know, I think she said kissing on the cheeks was okay," Gordo said.

"I'm sure I can get by during school hours with that," Lizzie laughed.

Lizzie's thoughts of Ms. Ungermyer, hall monitor duty, and especially Parker melted away as she spent the rest of the afternoon with Gordo.

>>>>

It had been nearly a week of hall monitor duties, and this Thursday Lizzie was finally finding an outlet besides Gordo—the school musical auditions. She had missed the info meeting for hall monitor duties, but luckily Miss Pierce had understood, and given her the information before drama class.

As soon as Lizzie had turned in her bright yellow and orange sash to Ms. Ungermyer, she had dashed back to her locker, grabbed her audition skirt and blouse, and ran to the nearest bathroom to change. It was an aspect of auditioning to dress up nicely.

Lizzie pulled a few fingers through her hair as she met up with the crowd of other auditioners at the entrance of the theatre door.

"Lizzie McGuire," she said to the senior who sat at a table at the entrance.

"Number 37," she said, handing her a sticker with the number on it. "Break a leg."

Lizzie smiled weakly as she stuck the number on her blouse. She felt almost as scared as when she had performed with Paolo and Isabella at the music awards in Italy.

Lizzie took a deep breath as she sat in the house with the other hopefuls, many of whom were upperclassman.

_How am I supposed to beat out all of these other kids that have way more experience than me? _She thought to herself.

"Lizzie? Lizzie McGuire?"

Lizzie turned her head as she heard her name called amongst the buzz of people throughout the theatre.

She saw a senior waving his hands at her from a few rows above her.

"Hey, you're that girl that sang in Italy! That was all over the news. Oh my gosh, I can't believe it's you!"

He started laughing with his friends and wooing at her.

All Lizzie could do was smile awkwardly—she didn't even know who this senior was that was talking to her, only that he was a senior.

Lizzie heart sped up as Miss Pierce welcomed everybody and explained how the audition process would begin. She wished Gordo could be here to watch her, but these were private auditions.

Lizzie tried not to let herself become intimidated by the upperclassmen that auditioned first. Although their voices were deeper and stronger, she continued to go over the scene of her singing in Italy in her head.

_Don't stutter, don't stutter_, she told herself as the hopefuls onstage performed their audition scene.

Soon, after most of the upperclassmen had gone, and a few freshmen and sophomores, Lizzie heard her number called.

"Numbers 36, 37, 38, and 39 next," Miss Pierce said, reading off of her clipboard at the table in front of the stage.

Lizzie slowly stood up, hearing the murmur of whispers all around her, mostly from students older than her, people that hadn't been on the trip to Rome, and hadn't heard about it as fast as the freshmen.

Lizzie nearly felt herself start to stumble down the steps, but slowly contained herself and was sure to hold her chin up as she made her way down to the stage.

She and the other two students stood further upstage as number 36, a junior girl will a high soprano voice, sang the audition song, _I've Never Been in Love Before._

Lizzie nearly felt her heart stop beating when the girl finished her song and stepped aside for Lizzie as the judges recorded her scores.

"Number 37," Miss Pierce said, smiling at Lizzie.

Lizzie took in one last deep breath as the accompanist started up the song again. Lizzie imagined the crowd sitting before her as the audience at the IMVA's. She imagined Isabella holding out her hand as they sang to the people standing before them. Then, Lizzie opened her mouth and began to sing:

_"I've never been in love before_  
_Now all at once it's you  
It's you forever more._

_"I've never been in love before  
I thought my heart was safe  
I thought I knew the score  
But this is wine that's all too strange and strong  
I'm full of foolish song  
And out my song must pour  
So please forgive this helpless haze I'm in  
I've really never been  
In love before."_

For the first time, Lizzie found herself standing in front of the students in the theatre. Miss Pierce was beaming, and many of the students behind her had opened their mouths in awe.

"Thank you," Miss Pierce said, scribbling on her score sheet. "Number 38, please."

Lizzie slowly stepped back with the junior girl, who was smiling at her, and number 39, a sophomore boy who still stood awkwardly in anticipation.

Next, Lizzie and the three others onstage with her acted out one of the scenes from "Guys and Dolls," the junior girl playing Adelaide, the sophomore boy Nathan Detroit, Lizzie as Laverne, and the fourth girl sitting out.

Lizzie tried to maintain her composure as "Nathan" and "Adelaide" had their small argument, and when her lines came, she belted them out with as much expression as she could work up.

When their scenes were over, Lizzie let out a sigh of relief and slowly made her way back up to her seat. People were smiling at her as she sat down, whispering "Good job" and "That was great."

Lizzie tried not to think about her audition as the remaining people continued their scenes and songs. She struggled not to fidget with her skirt as she watched the many other freshmen and sophomores still trying out.

After what seemed like hours, Miss Pierce finally stepped up to center stage as the last auditioners took their seats. "Thank you, everybody. The final casting list will be posted on Monday after callbacks tomorrow. If you receive a callback please be back in the theatre at 4:15 tomorrow."

Lizzie felt relieved as she left the theatre and found Gordo standing near the water fountain, waiting for her.

"So, how'd it go?"

Lizzie smiled. "I don't think I was as bad as I could have been."

"Good job, Lizzie!" one of the girls walking out of the theatre called to her.

"Not as bad as you could have been, huh?" Gordo smiled, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

Lizzie smiled, the most relaxing smile she had today. "I have so much homework, though, and it's after 6:00."

"Don't worry about it, we can do it together," Gordo told her.

"Thanks. Where's Miranda?"

"Oh, last time I saw her she was at the show choir meeting. I think auditions are coming up."

"Yeah, they are, I put up flyers for them the other day," Lizzie said, rubbing the back of her neck tiredly.

"I think you should talk to Ms. Ungermyer," Gordo told her, "you know, compromise. Maybe you can cut your work load down to three days a week."

"Come on, Gordo, it's Ms._ Ungermyer_," Lizzie said. "She never caves."

Gordo shrugged. "It's worth a try."

"Hey, Lizzie!"

Lizzie turned around, looking for the source of the voice calling her. "Oh no, not another senior."

"Huh?" Gordo asked, confused.

"Lizzie!" Lizzie suddenly saw Jeremy running up to her from inside the theatre. "You were really great!"

"Oh, thanks, Jeremy," Lizzie smiled. "I didn't know you auditioned."

"Oh, I didn't," Jeremy said. "I'm the sound manager."

"Oh, cool," Lizzie said, turning her head to look at Gordo, who still looked confused. "Oh! This is my boyfriend, Gordo."

"Hey, nice to meet you," Jeremy smiled, shaking Gordo's hand. "Well, I gotta go talk to Miss Pierce about some CD's she wanted me to burn for her. I'll see you guys later."

"Bye," Lizzie said, as Gordo grabbed her hand and began pulling her away.

"Who was that guy?" Gordo asked, a hint of concern in his voice.

"Oh, just Jeremy," Lizzie said, and leaning in, she added, "Don't tell anyone, but I think Miranda's in love with him."

Gordo let out a soft laugh. "Yeah, I would say that's Miranda type. Tall and handsome. Gosh, I can't believe I just said that." He shook his head.

"High school does weird things to you," Lizzie smiled, leaning in to kiss his cheek. "I do hope he and Miranda get to know each other. Don't you think after having been out of the country for three months, she'd feel kind of awkward to come back knowing that we're all of a sudden a couple?"

"Yeah," Gordo replied. "I've thought about it."

"And I think Jeremy's perfect for her," she said. "I mean, he's friendly, definitely not lazy, and he seems like a guy you can just talk to about anything."

"Yeah," Gordo said under his breath.

"Are you okay?" Lizzie asked.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine," Gordo said. "Hey, let's get going. Your mom's probably going to be waiting for us outside."

"Okay," Lizzie said, wrapping her arms around him to hug him. "I need to get my stuff out of my locker first, though. I'll see you in a bit!"

Gordo smiled sadly as he watched her hustle down the hallway and disappear out of sight. He didn't want to lose her, and neither Parker nor Jeremy was getting in the way.

**A/N: **Well, I hope this chapter is keeping the story running smoothly. I'll hopefully have at least one more chapter out before school starts up again. Thanks!


	8. Author's Note

**Author's Note:**

Hi, hopefully you guys aren't mad at me for not updating the story in so long. Basically my excuse is school. Right when I finish something huge, some other huge thing comes up. I had a piano evaluation I had to practice for about four months. During that time, I had a huge history project to do, plenty of tests, dance class, cheerleading, I tried out for the school play (didn't make it), and now cheerleading tryouts are coming up again. On top of all that, I haven't even had time to write my other story for _Echoes_, our school writing magazine published at the end of the year, which of course, has a deadline. So I don't know when I'll be able to continue this story. It's been really hard. Maybe during spring break I can get a chapter uploaded. But I can't promise anything.

Anyway, I'm really sorry I've been leaving you hanging, and hopefully you'll see be here to read when I update. Until then, thanks for reviewing and I hope I can make it up to you guys soon!


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